Company credit card misuse

Mulberry_bush

Hi, worried sick about my sister. She has worked as an administrator for a company for last 15 years, a valued and trustworthy employee. She is responsible for booking staff I to hotels etc and takes care of their expenses. She owns a company credit card -which is in her name and statements sent to her home.
She has a boss that regularly misuses sisters credit card I.e. booking holidays for him and family and claiming these as business expenses, he has also set up another business and has claimed all startup expenses through his employer and therefore through my sister's credit card - this has been going on for years and my sister has raised it with her boss but told to mind her own business and lied to. She is terrified of her boss. The boss's wife has now set up her own company and boss is putting all her expenses on credit card!
When I say 'boss, I mean sister's manager rather the owner of company.
Potential fraud has been raised with CEO in the past but he is old and believes the manager when told these are company expenses.
Now company is in difficulty, looks like it will go under owning £ms to bank etc and I am scared that sister is going to be implicated in the fraud if an audit is carried out by administrators etc.
sister thinks she is covered as her boss has signed off all expenses but I don't think she will be and I am also scared business will go bust leaving sister with credit card debt. Any idea how these cards work - will she be left open to fraud, bill etc?

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

TBH your sister will need to prove she didnt use the card and that it was her boss - she needs to get as much evidence as possible just in case. Do the statements show where the money went?

When the "expenses" have gone through - and the boss has signed them off - do they state the correct details? I.E - for his holiday does it state date / location etc?

She should really go to CAB or somewhere for legal advise

Marshflower

She must report him asap. I don't believe for one second she is covered - hence this man is using her card and not his own. The clause of the cardholder being responsible for it's use is common to most company card agreements. And this aside, having known about the deception and not acted appropriately means she is implicated in the defraudation of company assets (I believe).
If I were her, I would gather every shred of evidence of his actions that she can lay her hands on and drop this boss like a hot potato to the powers that be, claiming she has had her suspicions for a while but didn't want to make potentially career-ruining accusations without proper proof it is only recently that she feels she has sufficient evidence.
I think given she has been told to mind her own business and butt out by this chap I think he's safe to assume he doesn't have her back and is liable to sell her up the river at a moment's notice.
She musn't take the risk and get proactive.
He is commiting fraud and while it is on her card and she knows about it, she is a part of that and liable for prosecution if caught.

floss2

Also, if the statements go to her home, she should have received all those which have details of payments etc.

However, she may want to begin to compile a list of dates / times when the card was used as she will probably have to state where she was at the time, especially as her name is on the card.

Does she have access to the expenses claim records? Can she get copies of these?

tea_lover

If she knows the card is being fraudulently used she really needs to stop using it. Personally I'd cut the card in two, then send it and a letter outlining my concerns to the MD. Keeping a copy of everything of course.

The card has her name and address on it, so it's her responsibility.

floss2

Actually, when did she last use it herself? Maybe she could report it stolen and say she has only just realised...?

tea_lover

floss2 wrote: »

Actually, when did she last use it herself? Maybe she could report it stolen and say she has only just realised...?

Although then she's lying about the card too. She really needs to stick to the truth - too easy to trip yourself up later otherwise.

SuzieSue

If it is a company credit card then she shouldn't be responsible for any outstanding balance if the company goes under, but she should ring up the credit card company and check whose liability it is (she obviously shouldn't tell them that she thinks the company is going to go under).

She should also tell her boss that she is no longer prepared to have the cc in her name and that she is going to cancel it and that he will need to get his own.

Who raised the potential fraud with the CEO? Was it your sister?

As long as her boss has signed all the expenses as business expenses then she doesn't need to worry. As far as she knows, all the holidays could be for meeting potential customers.

Mulberry_bush

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

TBH your sister will need to prove she didnt use the card and that it was her boss - she needs to get as much evidence as possible just in case. Do the statements show where the money went?

When the "expenses" have gone through - and the boss has signed them off - do they state the correct details? I.E - for his holiday does it state date / location etc?

She should really go to CAB or somewhere for legal advise

Statements will name hotel, airline etc and cost. Boss just signs expense sheet, giving no explanation to nature of expense.

Mulberry_bush

tea_lover wrote: »

If she knows the card is being fraudulently used she really needs to stop using it. Personally I'd cut the card in two, then send it and a letter outlining my concerns to the MD. Keeping a copy of everything of course.

The card has her name and address on it, so it's her responsibility.

She can't stop using it as her job to book flights, hotels etc

Mulberry_bush

floss2 wrote: »

Actually, when did she last use it herself? Maybe she could report it stolen and say she has only just realised...?

She has never used the card for herself